March CURRENTLY and Spring Packet...and my TIEKS!

Signing on for a quick blog post...super busy with packing, getting ready for company...trying to get caught up after all those SNOW DAYS! It was 70 here today: A-Mazing!

Linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for CURRENTLY!

Can you guess what my question is? Everything else is pretty explanatory...my girls are coming to visit this weekend. I've lived in VA for just over two years and they have finally made plans to come visit! Can' wait! 
I haven't been very creative lately with making new TpT packets. I don't think I will be on board to have something complete by Saint Patrick's Day, but maybe a new spring themed packet of centers in the near future. But for now, check out my Spring Packet from last year! First 5 folks to comment will receive it for free!

and just for laughs...check out my lesson plans from the past month...look at all those SNOW DAYS!

This week looks like a full week...but with the 100th day, Boosterthon and a professional development for me in the afternoon on Thursday...it was just like a week with a snow day. 

And this week's plans...a full week! Linking up with 

and a small update on my Tieks...In my opinion they are starting to fall apart. I called and sent pictures to the company, only to be laughed at, have the manager tell me that I intentionally pulled and tugged on them, and got no where with them on the phone. Their only response was "bring them to your local cobbler". I said I would not be spending MORE money on my $175 shoes after only 5 months. So, they sent me a prepaid shipping label and I sent them back for them to see for themselves...I will blog with the outcome!

Meet the Teacher Tuesday? Peek at My Week AND a Bright Idea Blog HOP!

I have been wanting to link up with The Ordinary To Extraordinary Classroom for Meet the Teacher Monday for a few weeks now...and I never get a chance to blog on Monday nights! I am usually just burnt out. So you're going to learn more about me on TUESDAY! :o)

Meet the Teacher (Monday): FAST FIVE!

List 5 Things You Always Keep in Your Purse: (now, I don't have a designated purse...on week days I use only my school bag and on weekends I transfer my wallet...)

1. Lady Products! and in the car, at school, etc...
2. Hand-Sanitizer, usually a wonderful smelling Bath & Body scent to match the season (my favorite has been Autumn Day)
3. Mints!
4. Nail file
5. iPhone

List 5 Things You Love about Yourself:

1. My messy organization
2. My creativity
3. My sense of humor
4. I am always on time
5. If I want something...I normally get it! And I mean that in a good way...I'll work for it or make it happen!

List 5 Things You Do to Keep Yourself Busy:

1. Blog (write, read, browse, stalk...)
2. Read
3. Watch numerous awful and some good TV shows
4. Plan day trips, parties, events, anything to keep the day from being boring!
5. Spend time with my family

List 5 Things that Attract You to the Opposite Sex:

1. Sense of Humor
2. Trustworthiness
3. Ability to Communicate, or at least try and work on it
4. Adventurous 
5. Fun (willingness to do fun things, be funny, silly, sarcastic)

List 5 Things You Want to Accomplish in 2014

1. Run a 10K
2. Lose some pounds, gain some muscle!
3. Move and decorate our new home to feel comfortable
4. Be more patient
5. Possibly, maybe, discuss more with my husband about having a second child...we both want to most days...but there are definitely some days when our dear Addy gives us a run for our money...literally, and she will be in K next year...no more daycare payments? Sounds good, but we'll see what 2014 has to bring! 

Could it be? No SNOW DAYS or ICE DAYS or FREEZE DAYS this week? We'll see...tomorrow there is freezing rain in the forecast...but I am convinced that the temperature will not drop low enough for a delay or closing. For those of you having a snow day tomorrow, ENJOY!

It might not be the most creative or amazing idea...but it does save a lot of time untangling headphone cords and dealing with too many students at the listening center. I use individual cd players (I pick them up at the local thrift store for $2-3 each) so that each students can take a bag with one, a book and the CD and bring it to their seat. It doesn't limit how many students can be at listening center as long as you can find a few cd players. I put a note out to parents and they sent in old ones too!

Again, not the most complicated and creative idea...but is does make copying a lot easier to manage and carry back to your room. I took this idea from another colleague at school. I keep my copy paper in it and whenever I have something that I want to copy, I will slip it in the bin so that I have everything in one place when I get time to copy. (Bought mine at Wal-Mart, also at Target)

 

And lastly, HAND SIGNALS! It makes answering questions a lot easier to manage! Especially when I am with a small group, on the phone, talking with another adult, etc. I can just scan the room and see what my students needs are. 

AND FINALLY...(I know, thought this post was never going to end, huh?)

CONGRATULATIONS to Andrea over at Reading Toward the Stars, the winner of one of my February Holiday Packs! I need to get going on a new pack soon!

Visual Plans for January...what a month!

January has been quite a month in Northern Virginia...5 "snow" days and two days with two hour delays, bringing my county to ZERO days (or hours is how they do it here) left. How crazy is that? Temperatures below zero with the wind chill...the day we had a freeze day, it was -11 during the hours that the kids get picked up at the bus stop. I am from upstate NY, so these days off were bogus to me. I remember standing out side with so many layers that I could barely walk up the steps of the bus. My dad built me a small shed that looked like an outhouse. It had a bench in it so that me and my cousins, who lived next door, could get out of the wind on really cold days. Anyways...with this storm in the south right now we might get 1-2 inches tonight. We'll see! 

Well, how about Peek at my Month!

I don't have plans from the first week on January, because they were absolutely useless! We were one of the only counties in our area that had to go back for Th/F and then we wound up having a snow day on Friday! 

The above lesson plans are a full week...yes they are! BUT, I was out Monday with my daughter who had bronchitis and then Friday our first grade team had a full day of planning that had been rescheduled from our first snow day of the year on January 3rd. 

And I have started including a new page of lesson plans that shows which trade books that I get daily worksheets out of. Daily Language Review from Evan Moor is one that I used in second and third grade for morning work. My first grade team decided to start using it for the last two quarters of the year. I think it will really help with their writing and to prepare them for the grade to come with the routine.

There will be some changes taking place in my first grade class over the next couple of weeks in addition to using Daily Language Review. We begin the year with word family spelling lists with five additional sight words from the high frequency list. The word families were very easy for my first graders, so I am happy to move on to Words Their Way sorts. 

We will also start using a color behavioral chart that goes beyond green to Quality Student. I have created many behavioral charts for my TpT store, but I feel that my students would benefit from using only red, yellow, green and blue. I created punch cards at the beginning of the year and had so much on my plate with behavioral issues and getting to learn the curriculum that I did not use them the way I wanted to. So my goal is to use them with the chart and with mini competitions in the classroom to hopefully improve behaviors and academics. I have been pushing my students to write with their neatest handwriting and so I think the first competition will be to produce something with their best handwriting. Other competitions that I have in my mind are spellings bees and flash card fact rounds. 

Until Currently for February...I imagine I won't be getting around to blogging at all the rest of the week since report cards are due! 

Gotta love Snow DAYS (yes, two!) and a Peek at my (short) Week!

We are on snow day #2 here in Northern VA. Not like the snow day's we are used to in upstate NY. My fellow NYer's just laugh at our snow days, but I am not going to complain for sure! I've had to change my visual plans twice, but that's okay too. A nice short week with a field trip, followed by our week leading up to Winter Break will fly right by and then it's back to NY for the holidays. 

And for my holiday gift to my students for next week before break...SNOWMAN SOUP! Found several different photos of this idea on PINTEREST (this one is from Coley's Corner, click photo for original post). I have cute little Christmas bags from the Dollar Tree, a pack of cocoa, mini marshmallows, a mini candy cane and Hershey milk chocolate chips. Not sure if I will make my own labels or get them from someone else. We'll see! I'll post my final products next week when I make them along with some photos from our Polar Express Days!